Bed-spring.



DON CARLOS TRAVIS. BED SPRING.

APPLICATION FILED 1AN.20. 1917.

s. entrant oniricao DON CRLO$ TRAVIS, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO SIMMONS COMPANY, 0F KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION 0I? DELAWARE.

BED-SPRING.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

Application led January 20, r191'?. Serial No. 143,447.

:1w To all whom z' may Concern:

Be it limown that l, DoN'CAnLos Travis, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kenosha, in the county of Kenosha and State of lftlisconsin, have invented certain Inew and useful Improvements in Bed- Springs, of which the following is a specification.

The principal objects of the invention are: to provide an improved bed spring which will be free from creaking or other objectionable noises, due to movement of the occupant; to provide a bed spring so organized that sag of the spring is substantially confined to the weight-supporting does not cause tilting or distortion of the remaining portion of the spring, for instance, when the bed is occupied by two persons of dierent weights; to provide a bed spring ci the class described having at all times a substantially flat smooth surface tree from projecting parts liable to injure the mattress or other bedding; to provide` a neat, efficient, and practical bed spring which shall be relatively simple in design, and economical to manufacture, and, in general, to provide an improved bed spring of the character referred to.

In the drawings, which illustrate n preterred embodiment of my invention- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a full sized bed spring having my improvements;

AF i 2 is a section taken on the. line 2-2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the lino 3-3 ci Fig. 1.

In the drawings, 10 represents a pair of longitudinal strut members spaced from the bottom of the spring proper and carrying at their opposite ends cast bracket members 11. The ends of the strut members 10 rest upon the bedstead frame, and to the upper ends of the bracket members 11 there is secured, by bolts, rivets, or other suitable area and normally' under a considerable tension, so that the side bars 13 Will not sag unduly when the bed is occupied. Between the side bars 13 the surface of the bed spring is composed of a series of spaced apart` thin metallic slats 15 which are vertically liexible but have a considerable amount of transverse rigidity so that they will remain substantially straight, even when subjected to considerable lateral pull. Each of the slat members 15 is connected at each of its ends to the cross members 12 by means of a helical spring 16 normally under considerable tension.

In order to prevent lateral and vertical separation of the adjacent slats 15, constituting the surface of the bed spring, they are connected together by mea-ns of parallel transverse rows of connecting mem ers 17,

three rows of the said member@I ordinarily being suiiicient for a bed spring of the usual length.v These connecting members 17 constitute an important feature of my invention, and preferably comprise a series of individual helicals, each end 18 of each helical passing through an aperture 19 in the adjacent slat member 15.` The end helicals of each transverse row are connected to the side bars 13 of the spring, and the non mal length of each helical, together with the spacing of the holes 19 in the slat members, is such that it is necessary to impart a considerable amount of tension to the helicals in order to connect the row between the side bars 13. As has been previously stated, the side bars 13 are comparatively wide and laterally stii, so that there is no, appreciable bowing under the tension of the rows of helicals, even when the bed is fully loaded.

The advantages of my construction are quite marked when compared with a spring having loosely articulated members for connecting the various parts of the spring together. With my spring, there is practically no tendency for the slats to tip or twist, for the reason that the intermediate helicals 17, being normally under tension, edectually prevent such twisting tendency. Also, all of the parts of the spring being normally subjected to tension, there is no tendency for the parts to slip, rattle, or change position when the load 1s applied to or removed from the spring. In practice, the slats 15 are made of such width and lateral stiness that, while they will yield indi- Yiduallly sufiicient to coiniensate i'oi' localized loads, they Will still e capable of substantially maintaining their longitudinal straightness and so prevent the mattress or bedding from falling through or being vpinched between the slats. @ther advantages, in appearance, etliciency, and ease and economy in manufacture will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The scope of the invention is dened in the appended claim, which is not necessarily limited by the described details of construction.,

l claimln a bed spring construction, the combination o t a rigid trame provided with a pair of opposed cross rneinbers at the ends thereof, a transverse series of longitudinally disposed, spaced apart, thin, iexible slats7 each provided with aplurality of spaced-apart iairs ot perforations, the perforations of each pair being spaced apart and located in a line extending transversely across the slat, means including a helical at. one end of each slat for connecting same between said cross members, and a plurality ot' trans- \'erse rows of individual helicals connected between adjacent slats for substantially preventing lateral separation of said slats, each ot' said lielicals being closely coiled and provided with hooked extremities engaging respectively in adjacent perforations of adjacent slats. f

DON CRLOS TRAVIS. 

